Panic Disorder

A Brief History of Anxiety: Yours and Mine
In the U.S., 40 million adults have an anxiety disorder. Author Patricia Pearson is one of them: She is a regular visitor to Flu Wiki, an online community that fears an impending influenza outbreak. She compares her “uncomfortable but meaningless” angst to Edvard Munch’s The Scream . In A Brief History of Anxiety: Yours and [...]
Overcoming Fears, Phobias and Panic Attacks
There are many ways that a therapist might work with someone to help them overcome their fears, a phobia (like being afraid of snakes) or having a panic attack (where a person feels their heart beating, they are short of breath, and feel like they might die). Many therapists use what are called cognitive-behavioral techniques [...]
Tips to Cope with a Panic Attack
A panic attack is a sudden rush of physical symptoms — like shortness of breath, muscle spasms, and nausea — coupled with uncontrollable anxiety and sometimes a sense of impending doom. Visits to the emergency room and desperate late night phone calls to doctors often result, as do test results that often reveal nothing. If [...]
What is Depression if not a Mental Illness?
Sometimes you might hear a person talking about mental disorders like depression or bipolar disorder without really understanding what they mean. What is depression? What is bipolar disorder? Why do we refer to these things as mental health issues or mental disorders rather than a medical disease? And does it matter what we call a [...]
Facts About Phobias
Phobias are persistent, irrational fears of certain objects or situations. Phobias occur in several forms; the fear associated with a phobia can focus on a particular object (specific phobia) or be a fear of embarrassment in a public setting (social phobia). People who have phobias often are so overwhelmed by their anxiety that they avoid [...]
Understanding Anxiety Disorders, Part 2
Anxiety disorders come in many varieties. Descriptions of some of the most common disorders follow: Generalized Anxiety Disorder: GAD is characterized by persistent anxiety unrelated to a specific event. People suffering from GAD cannot help worrying about anything and everything, even in calm situations. They have difficulty relaxing, falling asleep, or concentrating, and tend to be [...]
Understanding Anxiety Disorders: Part One
Anxiety is a normal feeling of uneasiness, concern and apprehension that, when carried to an extreme, can become worry or outright terror. Some amount of anxiety and worrying is a normal and necessary part of life. It is because we are concerned about our children’s safety, for example, that we watch them carefully when we are [...]
Helping Children Who Fear School
A kid can be just as phobic about school, or math class, or writing a sentence as another child might be about dogs. What can be done to help children who fear an aspect of schooling, if not school in general? Deal With the Fear Children and teens who fear school can be helped. But it [...]
Treatment of Panic Disorder
Treatment can bring significant relief to 70 percent to 90 percent of people with panic disorder, and early treatment can help keep the disease from progressing to the later stages where agoraphobia develops. Before undergoing any treatment for panic disorder, a person should undergo a thorough medical examination to rule out other possible causes of the [...]
Anxiety, Worry, and Stress, Oh My: The Bugaboos of Modern Life
Anxiety, worry, and stress are all afflictions of life in the modern world. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 10 percent of the American population, or 24 million people, suffer from anxiety disorders. Experiencing anxiety in and of itself does not constitute a disorder. In fact, anxiety is a necessary warning signal of [...]
Other Causes of Panic Symptoms
There are several possible reasons why a person could experience the same physical symptoms as a panic attack, such as chest pain and abdominal distress. That is why it is important to have a primary care physician rule out any associated ailments. The “out-of-the-blue” feelings of terror accompanied by alarming physical symptoms are the key [...]
Frequently Asked Questions about Panic Disorder
How common is panic disorder? Between three and six million American adults will have panic disorder at some time in their lives. Panic disorder usually begins in young adulthood, but can also begin earlier or later in life. Is panic disorder serious? Panic disorder is real and potentially disabling. The distress of the panic attack itself can rob [...]
Explaining Panic Disorder to Your Friends
The phone rings early in the morning and you hear the voice of your friend on the other end. “Oh my gosh,” you think, “Dinner!” Your friend asks where you were last night. She waited at the restaurant for almost two hours, but you never showed up; you were not home either because she called [...]
What Can I Do About Panic Disorder?
There are two major classes of medications that are equally effective in blocking panic attacks. These are antidepressants and benzodiazepines. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of the antidepressants is that they will treat a coexisting depression if a person has depression in addition to panic disorder. A disadvantage of this class is that [...]
How Do I Know If It Is Panic Disorder?
There are more than a dozen physical or emotional sensations that a person can experience during a panic attack. Not everyone experiences all of them, and people with panic disorder may report different feelings when having an attack. If not recognized and treated, panic disorder can be devastating because it can interfere with relationships, schoolwork, employment [...]